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Activist Investor Scopia Gets Two Board Seats in Deal with Acorda

Acorda Therapeutics has cut a deal with Scopia Capital Management, enabling the activist investor that has previously pushed to sell the company, to name two directors to its board.

Scopia will support the board members Acorda (NASDAQ: ACOR) nominates at its annual shareholder meeting this year as a part of the agreement. Scopia, which this morning reported an 18.1 percent stake in the Ardsley, NY, company, also consented to various standstill provisions, among them an agreement not to “effect or seek to effect any extraordinary corporate transaction,” according to a regulatory filing.

Scopia has put pressure on Acorda during a tumultuous time for the company, which has suffered a few setbacks with two of its experimental drugs over the past year and lost key patents for its flagship therapy for multiple sclerosis patients, dalfampridine (Ampyra).